Touhou Ficlet Requests
by DocFry
Summary: A collection of short Touhou stories as requested by people. Feel free to leave a request in your comment. I'll type anything.
1. Hata's origin Story

Request Number 1: Hata's origin story

Along a beach in southern Honshu, in XXX Prefecture, there is a shrine dedicated to Taikou Daimyuojin, an avatar of Bishamonten. There today there are two girls, Maribel Hearn and Renko Usami.

"Hey, Renko, why are we here?"

"Because this shrine is the shrine of a god who is said to be the spirit of the founder of Sarugaku, Hata no Kawakatsu. "

"...but aren't we a Ghost Sealing Club? What does this have to do with what we do?"

"Don't you see, Mary?" said Renko with a degree of exasperation, "it's said that the god enshrined here was once a man! That must mean that his spirit is still wandering around somewhere! Which means that it is directly relevant to our interests!"

Maribel gave a sigh of resignation and sat down beside Renko on a beam that ran around the shrine.

"So how long are we going to wait here?"

"As long as necessary."

After giving another sigh, this one much louder and annoyed, Maribel just took her bag and began rifling through it.

"Good thing I packed lunch, then..."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the girls, there was a slight temporal disturbance just several hundred meters to their immediate right, in the woods that surrounded the shrine.

A small gap in space-time opened up, neatly tied at the ends with red and white riboons. Out through the dark hole filled with a mysterious red-purple-bluish glow and covered with staring wide eyes stepped a young girl, with long pink hair, a cute blue shirt with multiple-shaped buttons, and a large, poofy, pumpkin-shaped skirt with patterns cut out of it in alternating happy and sad faces.

"Now, young menreiki Hata, you only have a few moments here. Be sure to remind that useless shrine maiden I'm doing you a favor."

The girl called Hata only nodded, and began walking toward the shrine.

_Father, at long last, I've come to see you again..._

* * *

Hata no Kokoro could only remember a distant scene, a crowd full of various faces and emotions.

_That's right... I was only a collection of masks, then..._

She also remembered a face; vague now with the passage of time, but a face full of conviction, and bursting with any number of emotions.

_This must be my father, Hata no Kawakatsu..._

Next Hata no Kokoro can only remember darkness, the feeling of being alone. Though only few of her masks had sentience then, it was enough to remember the feeling of dread that surrounded her as she lay in the back of some storage shed or another.

_Father, where are you...?_

The pain and loneliness of the isolation was nigh-unbearable. However, she then remembered a stormy night, a sudden feeling of a presence.

_"Wh-what are you... who are you?"_

The being was a monstrous form, simultaneously man, beast, and fish. He reaked of the sea.

_"Kokoro... for that shall be your name... you are but young. I am your maker, having transformed from my mortal remains out at sea. I am currently traversing the countryside, ravaging the place, until I am rightfully enshrined. I come to give you your purpose: you are to live, and grow one day. Though you will be confused by your emotions, you must find yourself. Have faith in your own identity, when the day comes. I go now."_

Next Kokoro remembered the day she finally gained full sentience She was but a pile of masks, and then they began to float. They began to circle about a central point, before manifesting energy in a variety of colors before finally coalescing into the shape of a young girl.

The girl floated to the floor, where she sat down on her knees.

_This is... myself..._

* * *

Kokoro returned to the present, finding herself before the shrine.

It was then that Kokoro noticed that she was not alone.

At about the same tine, Maribel perked up as well, and began wildly looking around.

"Eh, Mary? What is it?"

"I think that there's something here."

"What, the ghost? Is is is it the ghost? Really?"

"No, I don't think so, it feels... different..."

Kokoro hid behind a bush and looked at Maribel and Renko.

_Damn... I didn't know that there would be people here..._

* * *

When Kokoro was born, she didn't really know what to do. She ended up wandering around from village to village, usually to entertain people. But she herself was directionless. Till finally one day. She learned of the stories about her father, and sought out the shrine in XXX Prefecture. Once she found it, she decided to stay in the region; fortunately, a small fishing village was nearby, which made it convenient to live there.

One day, though, she looked to she sky and say several planes. The planes filled her with a feeling of dread, even though she did not know what they were. In the course of time, the small fishing village had grown into a minor port, which inevitably became caught up in the war. The village had became also a manufacturing place for war materials, making it a natural target for bombing missions, though so far it had been spared.

Not today, though. From out the sky came a scream and then a loud noise, and the town before Kokoro was engulfed by several small explosions. Everywhere people were running, and she saw one person on fire; the factory had been demolished, and several more explosions from the harbor made clear the destruction there as well. Though Kokoro understood little of what was going on, she knew that she did not like it at all.

Following the devastation, she attempted to put on a play to lift the spirits of the people, not knowing what else to do. However, this only angered the people, and she was chased from the town, being confined to the immediate confines of the shrine grounds.

After a while, she just decided to sleep; she slept for a very long time... days ... months ... years ...

She finally woke one day, where she decided to explore the shrine grounds. It was during this that her mask mysteriously vanished; her mask of hope. And before she knew it, she was gone, too: she woke in Gensokyo.

* * *

"Let's go check it out." said Renko.

Kokoro did not know what to do. She did not want to fight with ordinary humans; however, she could not possibly pull herself off as a human. Just then, there was a small boom noise, which distracted the two girls.

"Geeze, what was that?" yelled Renko.

"I don't know, but I don't want to stay around any longer. Let's leave, Renko! shouted Maribel.

"Hey, wait for me!"

As the girls ran off, Kokoro took the chance to sneak inside the shrine.

She approached a small statue of an angry-looking man, two arms folded, one other holding a knife, the other a spear. Kokoro took several furtive steps before the statue, bowed slightly, and then sat down onto her knees.

"Father, I have returned..." she said as she closed her eyes and clasped her hands.

"Much has... changed. I don't know how, but I wound up in this strange new world. But I'm okay - I even have emotions now! I don't know how, but I don't need to rely on the masks anymore to commute with people. Just as you said I would."

Just then, she heard a gasp from the shrine's doorway.

She turned to look, and there stood Maribel, shocked at the sight before her.

"Uh..."

Kokoro got up and prepared herself for a confrontation.

"Um... hi... I'm only here because I forgot my bag, alright?"

Kokoro relaxed, and adopted the elegant woman mask.

"Oh. I see."

The mask switched to a monkey.

"Go on your way, then. Don't mind me, you didn't see anything..."

The mask switched to a Hannya.

"...got it."

"Yeah, sure, got it, heh heh, see ya!"

Maribel quickly left.

Kokoro stood there, and thought for a while. Her mask switched to Hyokotto.

"Well, I sure showed them, right, father?"

"Indeed, you did."

Yukari appeared beside her suddenly.

"It's time to go. That was close."

Kokoro turned to look at the statue of her father.

"Well, time to go, father. I'll try to visit again sometime soon, okay?"

Her mask switched to a fox.

"I go now."

Yukari opened a portal, ans stepped through it. Kokoro followed suit, turning back once to look at the statue, and both disappeared from this world.

Back in Gensokyo, Kokoro asked "Lady Yukari, thanks for the distraction earlier."

"Hm? What do you mean? I didn't cause any distractions. I was busy taking a cat nap."

"Um..."

Back at the shrine, the statue's face had changed: instead of a scowl, a light smile, almost a smirk, was in place. Kokoro's father was pleased indeed...


	2. Reimu's Jar Surprise

Reimu Hakurei was annoyed.

She was cleaning out the storage shed in the shrine when she came upon a jar. What was in the jar, she did not exactly know.

Thus, resolving to open it at some other time, she placed the jar down, only to see words scrawled on it.

"For a Rainy Day"

Reimu sat there for a moment, looked at the jar, looked up, and then back down to the jar. She glanced over towards the shrine.

"Well, there have been fewer donations lately..."

_as usual_

After a slight hesitation, Reimu placed her jars on the hand, and began trying to get it open. After several minutes f fruitless grasping, she hit the lid several times on the floor, hoping to loosen it. No luck.

"Damn!"

"What's up, Reimu?"

"Marisa! Just in time!"

"Eh, what, da ze-"

"I need your help. You're good at opening stuff, right?"

"Yeah, I guess, da ze-"

"Well, open it!"

"...why should I" adopting a skeptical frown.

"Because I asked you to, that's why!"

"...that's not a good enough reason. I'm going to go and help myself to your tea and cookies, da z-"

"Wait just a moment!" Reimu grabbed onto Marisa's collar and pulled her back.

"What's the big idea, hey, what the-... ze...!"

"Look, I don't know what could be in here. But I want it."

"Okay, but that's still not enough of a justification for me to help you."

"Okay, how about this: you open it for me, and I'll split evenly with you whatever's inside."

"Hmm... add on an additional 5% for handling fees, and you've got a de-"

"What-!?... er... grr... well... alright, but you better open it!"

Marisa took the jar outside the shed and placed it on a pole in the ground. Taking her mini-Hakkero, she took several steps back and positioned it at the level of the jar.

"Hey, I asked you to open it, not shoot it into next week!"

"Just relax! I'm only giving enough force to loosen it, is all."

"You better not scorch anything inside or-"

"Or you'll what, da ze?"

Reimu just stood there for a moment, gave an angry sound, and then just stood there with her arms folded.

"Proceed!"

"With pleasure!"

Marisa let out a Master Spark, filling the area with light. When she was done, the jar still stood in place, steaming a little but otherwise without a scratch on it.

"What in the-"

"How did that... it... how..."

"Hey, sup, guys?"

Suika appeared, gourd in hand as always, looking slightly tipsier than usual.

Reimu suddenly got an idea.

"Heeey, Suika~"

"Eh? What's with de cooing voice, Reimu? You're-hic- creeping me out~"

"I want you to open a jar for me."

"Oh, is that it?" Suika placed down her gourd and walked over to the jar.

"Don't mind if I do!" Suika placed her hands on the jar, and gave a tight squeeze with her hand. Nothing. She placed the jar on the ground and tried screwing the lid again. Again nothing. She began bashing the gourd against it. Nothing.

"Hey, wut the hell kinda trick is this?"

"I don't know! Mind telling me?"

As Suika continued to try and open the jar, another visitor arrived.

"Oh. I see you guys are trying to do something."

It was Byakuren, wearing her hat like what she wore during the Summer Religious War.

"I wonder what it is you're exactly trying to do. Mind explaining?"

Reimu walked up to her, took her by the sleeve, and walked her over to the jar.

Suika was now bashing the jar against her horns, yet again to no avail.

"Oh, you poor youkai. I'll take over form here, so-"

"Who de hell ya callin' poor youkai, Lady-hic-! I reckon I, I-olda than you anyway, so who ya callin poor youkai~" Suika finally collapsed, either form the effort to open the jar... or just drunkenness.

"Here, let me give it a try."

Byakuren placed her hands on the jar and began to tug at the lid. This continued on for several minutes, her face growing with more ocnsternation depsite the smile she kept trying to force in place. Sweat began to perspire on her forehead as she worked.

"Hey, do you think you keep tryin', ze?"

"No worries... I got this... I-"

Just then, a sudden rush of wind announced the arrival of a new guest.

"Hey, Reimu~! How's it goin'?"

Reimu turned, and her face immediately dropped. Marisa turned, and her face lit up.

"Oh, it's yo-"

"Hi, Master Mima!"

"Yo."

Mima came over to the struggling monk, who was trying still to open the jar to no avail.

"Hey, what's up with her? She looks consti-"

"Reimu wants to open the jar to see if there's anything valuable inside, ze~"

"Hey, who told you you cou-"

"What?"

The "what" came from Byakuren, who had stopped trying to open the jar. Her face was still smiling, but her eyes were closed, and her face began to twitch.

"Are you saying you had me struggling... all to satisfy your material desire?"

"Well, uh, I-"

Just then, Mima had began to give her own try at the jar.

"Hey, this thing is on pretty tight... I think I remember this jar-"

"You do?!" asked an incredulous Reimu.

"Yeah. I was ransacking your storage shed a long while back looking for anything valuable, then I came across this. Thing's still a trouble to open."

As Reimu just stood there shocked in the light of this newest revelation, a commotion had begun in the background.

"Aha! For what do I see but the local shrine maiden attempting a feat, a feat which has this hated monk of a false faith even stumped?

Everyone turned to yet the newest arrival, Futo.

"Ahoy, my fellow denizens of the land! I have come to visit the shrine for I was in need of diversion from the tedium of daily life, and tis what I find? Such tomfoolery!"

She approached Byakuren and smirked.

"So, even the dastard monk herself could not un-close such a simple jar! Fear not! For the art of Tao is not as weak as this. Behold, and I shall open it with my own two hands!"

Futo took the jar, and began her own attempt at opening it. After several moments, everyone just stared in a blank expression at yet the newest failure.

"Tis but a slight delay... not to worry... this jar shall be opened soon... and its contents... revealed..." she said between grunts and groans. After a moment more of this, she threw the jar to the ground in frustration.

"Knavish jar! This obviously has the stink of youkai magic about it! I shall destroy it!"

She called down fire upon the jar, only to find it unscathed, as before with the Master Spark.

"...to have sunken so low... embarrassed by a simple jar..."

Just then, a new arrival came.

"I had a feeling you returned, Mima."

It was Yuuka this time, parasol held above her head, calm smile on her face as always.

"Yuuka, hey there! Look, it's the old party again~!"

Yuuka and Mima shared in a hearty laugh, with Byakuren and Futo looking on in confusement.

"Tis be...?"

"I have no clue."

"Eh? Wuss's everyone talkin' bout -hic-."

Suika had gotten up, and looked at everyone before looking at the jar. Just then, the look of an idea came upon her face.

"Ey, you, plant lady."

"What was that?" said Yuuka, as she turned to Suika.

"You can do that Master Spark thing, correct...?"

"You better believe it. Do it? I created it."

"Well then maybe..."

"Suika, you genius!" proclaimed Reimu.

"Eh, what's up, Reimu?" asked Marisa.

"You, Yuuka, and Mima fire your Master Sparks at the same time! That's got to do something, right?"

"...I don't know."

"Truly, you think such a ridiculous plan would work?" asked Yuuka.

"Wouldn't you just end up destroying it~?" asked Mima.

"Come on! Let's try it!" asserted Reimu again.

"Well..." Marisa looked away in consideration.

"...split it 75%-25% and you've got a deal."

"What!?"

"Hey, hey, there's money involved in this? Why didn't ya say so?" said Mima, suddenly excited at the prospect of new wealth.

"Well, not exactly, bu-"

"Then what are we sitting around here for?" Mima picked up the jar and placed it on the pole again. She, Marisa, and Yuuka took up different positions around it.

"At the count of three, let's fire, alright?"

"Sure, why not?" said Yuuka.

"Okay..." said Marisa.

They released their Master Sparks, and the scene became filled with light once again. Once the blindness from the light subsided, Reimu rubbed her eyes and looked around. Besides for part of the shed's roof and a number of trees in the forest beyond the shrine being demolished, the jar stood there, same as it was before.

"...I give up."

The girls eventually decided to go into the shrine for tea, despite not having any real reason to remain staying besides the inconvenience of heading back to the town.

"I'm never going to get that jar open~!" groaned Reimu.

"Indeed. This jar seems rather enchanted, don't you think?" asked Byakuren.

"Tis but knavish trickery of youkai is all. All one needs is the right method, and anyone could open it." proclaimed Futo, completely not caring at all that she was in the presence of mostly youkai.

Just then, the sound of a ringing cowbell alerted them to the presence of yet another visitor.

"Hello~, friendly neighborhood Kappa here! Anyone interested in my war-" started Nitori, cowbell in hand.

Reimu got up and grabbed hold of Nitori by the shoulders.

"Nitori, you have kappa tech, yes?"

"Um, why yes. Of course, we kappa always travel with an array of gadgets and tools. If you want any, it'll cost extr-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, well, I need help. And I'm willing to pay for it" -lie

"Really? What kind job do you have?"

The girls gathered outside yet again.

"This jar. Open it please."

"Okay, but I don' know why you're paying me for such a simple task. It's just a jar, right?" asked Nitori as her robot arms from her pack came out to grasp the jar. After a while of tugging, Nitori began to grow frustrated.

"Wait, what the heck is going on here? Are you trying to trick me?"

"No. I just need to-"

"Forget it. I ain't doing it. You probably don't ave any money to pay me anyway."

"Well, uh, wait!"

Nitori began walking away.

"The jar has a bunch of cucumbers in it!"

Nitori stopped and slowly tilted her head behind her.

"..what did you say?"

"What." said Marisa as she stood beside Reimu.

"Yeah, cucumbers, you know. You're favorite~"

Nitori quickly walked back over to the jar.

"Okay, I'm going to need everyone's assistance on this, you hear?"

Her arms form her bag pulled out what looked like a small table and placed it onto the ground. She placed the jar on its side and connected some wires to the table, running them to several poles which placed around it.

"Eh, what the heck is this?" asked Mima.

"It's something I've been developing to electronically open things with shock waves."

"How the heck is that supposed to work?" asked Marisa.

"What is this electricity you speak of, good kappa?" asked Futo.

"Indeed, I am rather curious as to how this all works." stated Byakuren.

"Alright, see these poles? I'm going to need the three sparkers here to fire at them. It will give the energy needed for the process."

She turned to Byakuren.

"I need you and Reimu to assist Futo in keeping a barrier around the area. I don't need any of this energy sapping into the surroundings. These poles aren't right yet."

"Yeah, sure, but I still have no idea how all of this is supposed to work." said Reimu sceptically.

"Just listen, alright! I have no time to explain the details of advanced KappaTech to you."

Suika came sauntering over.

"Ey, kappa, what do I do?"

"You need to manipulate density of the area to ocncentrate on jar, alright?"

"Heh, would you look at that, a kappa ordering an oni around... sure, why not?"

Everyone took their positions around the jar.

"Okay, sparkers, fire away!" Nitori shouted as she pulled on some goggles.

Te three fired their sparks at the poles, and an immediate surge of light blinded all around.

"Mages, keep that barrier in place! We can not afford to lose any power!"

"I am no simple mage! I am a master of Feng Shui, the art drago-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! It's working! Suika, keep the density concentrated around the jar! It's working! It's working!"

As several minutes of this theatrical display, the energy from the sparks died down, and all that was left was magical static in the air. Nitori walked over to the jar and lifted it up. After a moment's inspection, she dropped it to the floor, before dropping to the floor herself.

"Nooooo!"

"What? You didn't break the jar, did y-"

"It didn't work!" Nitori interrupted Reimu.

Everyone just stood around Nitori and the jar, all with looks of disappointment and resignation on their faces.

"Surprise!" said a familiar karakasa excitedly as she emerged from the sky. When nobody responded, she looked around confusedly.

"Hey, what's wrong? What's this jar over here?"

Kogasa approached the jar and lifted it up.

"For a rainy day..." she then noticed a small seal on the lid of the jar.

"Oh, I know what this is!"

Everyone looked up in amazement.

"You do?" asked Reimu flatly.

"Yeah. I need you to pull it off, though. We karakasa can't otuch it."

"Touch what?" asked Yuuka.

"The seal, of course."

Reimu looked at the lid and stared stupidly at it.

"The seal...?"

"Yeah, didn't you notice?"

Instead of deciding to resign life, Reimu peeled the seal off. Kogasa then went over to the jar and screwed the lid off, revealing a beaten-up old umbrella from the jar. A rather tiny one.

"Look... at that..." said Marisa, slumped over, pointing stupidly at the karakasa."

"Mind explaining what this nonsense is?" asked Futo.

"Oh, this? This is simply a sealed karakasa. I'm familiar with the type of seal used to seal them. Time to wake up, little buddy!"

The tiny umbrella floated and it transformed into a young boy roughly five in appearance.

"Huh?"

"You're free now, little karakasa!"

"Oh.. thanks."

The two karakasa floated off happily, leaving everyone else staring behind in utter disbelief.

Nitori looked around, then towards Reimu.

"So, about my cucumbers..."

"No."


End file.
